Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Thermoregulation, Axon Hillock, Acetylcholine

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Mike Atkinson

Document Summary

Coding intensity: neuron fires on all or none faction, height of spike is fixed, neurons have different thresholds, threshold could be -50mv or -55mv. 50mv threshold that is reached means stimulus is more intense: strong stimulus -> more neurons. Intensity is directly proportional to frequency of firing (how fast neurons fire: at some point, neurons cannot fire any faster - this is due to absolute refractory period that places limit on maximum rate of neurons firing. Neural communication: reflex arc, sensory -> interneuron -> motor. Inferring the synapse - sherrington"s experiment (our reflex is actually. 100ms, rather than the calculated 10ms if neurons are touching, showing that neurons are actually not touching each other: transmission is chemical, using neurotransmitters, chemical transmission is a lot slower than electrical transmissions. Postsynaptic neuron: neurotransmitters that make it across synaptic cleft bind to receptor sites, which open channels.